Workshops

DiploFoundation offers a wide range of capacity development workshops covering different topics from public speaking, through diplomatic protocol, to dealing with the media. Workshops are exercise-based and aim to help participants identify areas that are challenging for them and offer practical tips and tools to overcome them.

Workshops are always customised to meet the needs of the particular region or partner institution, and are delivered by our experienced and knowledgeable faculty members.

In addition to the topics listed below, we can design specialied capacity development programmes on request, combining topics or adding different ones.

In recent years, our team has delivered workshops for the EU, the ministries of foreign affairs of Serbia, South Africa, Bahrain, and Moldova, the African Union, the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy, and at universities in the USA, Switzerland, Austria, the Netherlands, among others.

If your institution is interested in organising a workshop for your employees, please contact Mr Andrej Škrinjarić ( andrejs@diplomacy.edu ) us for more details.

Available workshops

The power of the unsaid

The focus of this workshop is ‘between-the-lines’ communication. In an age that promotes clear writing and transparent communication, the subtler nuances of so-called ‘diplomatic language’ are often dismissed as irrelevant or undesirable. However, since the unsaid can be a source both of strength and of misunderstanding, this workshop demonstrates how implicit communication can not only build relationships, but break them too.

The workshop is exercise-driven and culminates in a HARDtalk simulation.

Workshop facilitator

Dr Biljana Scott was trained as a linguist (BA in Chinese, M.Phil and D.Phil in Linguistics, University of Oxford). She is a Senior Lecturer in Language and Diplomacy online course at DiploFoundation, and an Associate of the China Centre, University of Oxford, where she has taught for the last 25 years.

Public speaking

Understanding the basics of good communication (message elements), alongside what it takes to be a good communicator (message delivery), is an intrinsic element of how we do business, of how we function in and relate to the world around us.

A heightened awareness of how others speak, and the skill to identify what went well and what could have gone better, help improve our own speaking styles. Using presentations as a medium of delivery – impromptu, extemporaneous, manuscript, and memorised – this workshop explores the meaning of good communication, discusses how to provide constructive feedback to other speakers, and focuses on finding style and voice.

Workshop facilitator

Ms Mary Murphy is a Budapest-based public speaking coach, specialising in communications training for non-native-English speakers.

Media simulation

The media simulation workshop aims to improve the communication skills of participants by focusing on improving their public and one-to-one speaking skills. This is achieved through a combination of hands-on exercises designed to help participants identify their strengths and weaknesses, and through analysing positive and negative speaking examples from public personalities. Special emphasis is placed on how to avoid stress and increase persuasion when talking to people. Based on analysis of video recordings of the participants’ interviews, the exercises include writing press releases, basics of diplomatic protocol, and written and verbal communication aimed at intergovernmental institutions (UN, EU, and Council of Europe).

Workshop facilitator

Mr Valeriu Nicolae is a human rights activist and communications trainer with extensive experience in Europe and worldwide. From 2015, he worked for the Romanian government as State Counsellor at the Prime Minister’s Chancellery, and as State Secretary at the Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Protection and Elderly. From autumn 2016 to mid-2017 he worked at the Council of Europe as Special Representative of the Secretary General. His work includes social policy and social services, national programmes for children rights, social inclusion, and poverty policies.

Communication skills

Just as we need to punctuate our written communication, so too do we need to punctuate our speech. Tone, speed, volume, and pitch are key elements of effective communication. How we communicate – the words we use, the tone we use, the information we transmit – often depends on to whom we are talking. In our heads, we assume we know what we want to say… but how clear are we really that what we think we want to say, really is what we want to say? We tend to make our communication over-complicated and difficult to follow, particularly when dealing with technical subjects.

All these topics are tackled during the workshop on communication skills, designed to be highly interactive with plenty of relevant examples and practical exercises. The key focus is placed on distance travelled by each participant measured by initial competence against final competence.

Workshop facilitator

Ms Mary Murphy is a Budapest-based public speaking coach, specialising in communications training for non-native-English speakers.

From our participants

Mary Murphy made us face our fear of public speaking during a two-day workshop that has completely changed my way of thinking about, and preparing for, public speaking. She got us to speak about subjects we are familiar with, and those we know nothing about, sharing her knowledge and insightful advice with us, while the hours passed in the blink of an eye.

DiploFoundation

Towards more inclusive and effective diplomacy

Diplo is a non-profit foundation established by the governments of Malta and Switzerland. Diplo works to increase the role of small and developing states, and to improve global governance and international policy development.